With the passage of the American Rescue Plan (ARP), states and localities will once again receive billions of dollars to reduce the financial losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic. But this time local government spending of those funds will look different from before. The ARP works to restart the economy through a well-established plan that encourages vaccine development and pumps massive amounts of federal funding into the economy. In addition to stimulus checks for most people, state and local governments will receive an extra $350 billion, with $65.1 billion in direct federal aid for counties and an additional $1.5 billion for public land counties. A report by CivicPulse found that local governments plan to spend this stimulus payment differently than previous relief packages. While officials still want to ensure health safety measures and PPE demands are met, there will be a shift to make sure that communities will succeed through the pandemic’s duration and beyond.
Source: GOVERNING